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Recovery School District, Inspector General end $1.2 million construction oversight contract

Patrick Dobard Introduced as Head of RSD

Recovery School District Superintendent Patrick Dobard, left, and state Education Superintendent John White. The RSD and New Orleans Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux are ending a contract to have Quatrevaux's office monitor spending in New Orleans school construction.
(NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune archives)

We cannot be reimbursed by FEMA for things that are deemed duplicative." -- RSD Superintendent Patrick Dobard

New Orleans Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux and the Recovery School District have ended their three-year, $1.2 million contract for fraud oversight on the school building master plan two years early. Quatrevaux said Friday it was "a business decision made by both parties."

The master plan uses $1.8 billion in FEMA settlement funds to reshape the city's school building landscape. The plan was amended in 2011 and calls for 86 new or rehabbed campuses.

Quatrevaux's office initiated the termination on June 7, saying the district had breached the terms of the contract by not allowing access to its records and requiring district attorneys to sit in on interviews between the IG's staff and its own employees and contractors.

However, Recovery School District Superintendent Patrick Dobard said the key issue was funding the contract. The district also has fraud oversight contracts with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Read the documents

The two sides met multiple times over the winter and spring but could not agree on the scope of work. Quatrevaux said the original charge was to provide a thorough construction fraud deterrence program, including screening vendors, developing a code of conduct and fielding complaints.

Dobard said, however, that those services were already being provided by the auditor and the homeland security office. He said the quality of oversight would not diminish.

"We cannot be reimbursed by FEMA for things that are deemed duplicative. And we don't want to waste taxpayer dollars," Dobard said. Instead, "We're going to use that (money) to serve the children of New Orleans," moving it to other parts of the plan.

Bids have been coming in high for school construction projects, spurring concerns about possible cutbacks in the plan.

The Inspector General's office is almost done with its last report to the Recovery School District. Judging from letters to Quatrevaux from state Superintendent John White and master plan construction coordinator Jacobs/CSRS, the draft report is fiercely critical of Jacobs/CSRS.

The district re-awarded the oversight contract to Jacobs/CSRS earlier this month. At the time, officials said the contract would run three years and come to about $28 million.

However, Quatrevaux said Friday the conversations about ending the contract started before he shared the draft report with state staff. He also said that while his office had received complaints about potential abuse, nothing had risen to the level of reporting to the FBI or the U.S. Department of Education's Inspector General.

The district is paying the Inspector General's office for all services received.